2009 National Arthur M. & Berdena King Eagle Scout Scholarship Winner

First Place: Eagle Scout Gerrit S. Bakker

Louisville, KY - The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) will present its coveted "Arthur M. & Berdena King Eagle Scout Scholarship Award" to Eagle Scout Gerrit S. Bakker on Monday, July 6, 2009 in ceremonies at the 119th Annual SAR Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. As the National First Place winner, Bakker will receive an $8,000 college scholarship. Bakker represented the state of Michigan in the national competition after winning the Michigan Society SAR competition which earned him a college scholarship of $1,000, a SAR Eagle Scout Medal and an Eagle Trophy designating him as Michigan's winner. The presentation of the Michigan awards was on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at the Michigan Society SAR Annual Conference in Lansing, Michigan. Bakker is believed to be the youngest ever winner of the National Award.

Eagle Scout Gerrit S. Bakker, is the son of Steve and Kristin Bakker of Alma, Michigan and Denise Bakker of Williamston, Michigan. He is a member of the Lake Huron Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and registered in Troop 631 at the Ithaca United Methodist Church in Ithaca, Michigan and Venturing Crew 7603 at the Alma Elks Club in Alma, Michigan. In addition to earning the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America, Bakker has earned 71 Merit Badges and seven Eagle Scout Palms. His Eagle Scout Project provided over 100 hours of combined scout and adult efforts to start a battery recycling program for the City of Ithaca. His other community service includes having built loon nesting islands to help restore and increase Michigan's common loon population, participating in local food drives, volunteering as a camp counselor at summer camp and assisting in activities at the Ithaca Senior Activity Center. He is also a member of the Gratiot County Community Foundation's Youth Advisory Council.

Bakker is a freshman at Ithaca High School and an honor student. He is a member of the Ithaca High School Marching and Jazz Bands, freshman basketball team, varsity soccer team and the Model UN team. He is also a member of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Ithaca.

The SAR Eagle Scout Recognition and Scholarship Program recognizes outstanding Eagle Scouts in our communities. Every SAR chapter sponsors an Eagle Scout Competition that includes an application detailing Scouting experience, academic achievements, and community service, a 500-word essay on a patriotic theme, and a four-generation genealogy chart. The winner of each SAR chapter competition is entered in the SAR state competition. The winner of each state competition competes in the National Society's Eagle Scout Competition and vies for $14,000 in scholarships.

2009 Winning Eagle Patriotic Theme

A Perspective of "Patriot" in the American Revolution
by Gerrit S. Bakker, Eagle Scout
Michigan Society

By definition a patriot is: "one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests." Since the early 1600's, people living in the American colonies have had varied interpretations as to the meaning of the word "patriot." The colonists referred to themselves as patriots, but the English referred to them as revolutionaries. Calling these revolutionaries "patriots," is something that historians have done since prior to the Revolutionary War and one which we currently associate with those persons in the colonies who supported the American Revolution.

American colonists used the term "patriot" prior to the Revolutionary War when referring to members of the American Patriot Party. The members of the American Patriot Party, also known as Whigs, Radical Whigs or Patriot Whigs in England, shared similar colonial policies. Though the true meaning of the word "patriot" did not change who the colonists were, it did change with their perspective of their actions. Those early "Patriot Party" colonists in Massachusetts and Virginia during the 1600's referred to those groups who were asserting colonial rights and showed resistance to the directives of the King. The other group was the "Moderate Party," which accepted the King's writ of quo warranto (granting himself authority) on property rights and colonial control. "By this time [1618] there were two distinct parties, not only in the Virginia Company, but in the Virginia Colony, the one being known as the "Court party," the other as the "Patriot party"…In 1619 the Patriot party secured the right for the settlers in Virginia to elect a Representative Assembly…This was the first representative body ever assembled on the American continent. From the first, the representatives began to assert their rights." History has shown that this initial taste of representation only increased the colonist's desire for independence.

The underlying sentiment of emotion and resentment over the decades of being taxed by the British Parliament without appropriate representation and unfair tariffs finally boiled over on December 16, 1773 at the "Boston Tea Party" which is generally considered to be one of the catalysts for the American Revolution. In the span of over one hundred fifty years, from that first elected assembly to the American Revolution, the Patriot Party grew stronger; though not to the point of ever being a majority prior to the war, as noted by John Adams who stated: "One third are Patriots, one third are Loyalists and the rest don't give a damn one way or the other." Though the patriots were initially in the minority, they were clearly a well funded passionate minority that by the end of the war had by most accounts, converted many and become the majority.

In this "Era of Enlightenment (~1660 to 1789)," rational thought and methodical observation by individuals became the primary basis of principles of authority while replacing the "dark ignorance and blind belief that characterized the past" with a reduction in the powers of the church. The word "patriot" was not used as we know it today as a "nationalist," it meant that it did not demand that you stand behind your country absolutely and that an individual could be a patriot and still revolt against the actions of the King. This is the reason why the colonists called themselves patriots at this time in history. A patriot's principles are clear and straight forward. Today the meaning of patriots and nationalists are similar and the word "Patriot" creates a vision of a great American symbol.